'Everything seemed grey after Rob died but I knew he wouldn't have wanted me to give up'

THE widow of a man who collapsed and died after a bike ride is set to take part in her own cycling challenge for the British Heart Foundation.

- By SOPHIE FAGONE BUSCIMESE

Joined by her husband's former colleagues from Experian HQ, Rachael Thomas, 39, will ride from Nottingham to Skegness to honour the business analyst, who was just 46 when he died last October.

As Rob and Rachael returned to their home in Long Eaton after one of their regular 50-mile weekly bike rides, he began to feel unwell.

"It was our normal active Saturday morning," Rachael recalled. "Rob was due to play golf 45 minutes later. He had a drink of cola and some jellybeans thinking he needed to get some sugar for energy and then sat down on the sofa and collapsed. It all happened so quickly."

Rachael called an ambulance immediately and informed her neighbour, who began to perform CPR. Paramedics and an air ambulance used a defibrillator on Rob, but despite their efforts to resuscitate him, he was pronounced dead at 3.45pm.